USA > New York > Putnam County > Garrison > History of St. Philip's church in the Highlands, Garrison, New York, including, up to 1840, St. Peter's church on the manor of Cortlandt > Part 6
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74 The History of St. Philip's Church
Gospel for 1774 "That the circumstances under which he left his congregation at Peekskill did not raise him in the estimation of the Society, to whom his conduct, in that particular, hath been reported to his disadvantage, and as an act of ingratitude." What those circumstances were we have now no means of conjecturing, unless it should be the brevity of his service in a parish which had waited for his ordination and built him a parsonage. Obviously his offence was not a very serious one, for he continued a missionary of the Venerable Society until 1803. He is recorded as attending a Vestry meeting at Peekskill on August 13th, 1773, after which his name disappears from the parochial records.
Three days later the Rev. William Andrews, Rector of St. George's, Schenectady, writes from New York to Sir William Johnson: "My health has really suffered so much of late from constant confinement to a school, and from my attention to the mission, that I have, by the advice of Dr. Constable, been obliged to make an excur- sion abroad for the recovery of it. A principal induce- ment to undertake this, was the arrival of a clergyman at Schenectady, who kindly offered to supply my place, should I absent myself."1 A little later in the same letter he adds: "This gentleman who now officiates in my room, is personally known to Colonel Johnson, and I believe would, if agreeable to you and the people, accept the Mission. He is a relation of Mr. Ellices. A person of good abilities and fair character."1 This un-named clergyman was the Rev. John Doty. The records of the S. P. G. state that "At the request of the Church War-
1 Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. IV, pp. 305-6.
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dens and Vestrymen of Schenectady, the Rev. Mr. Doty, a gentleman educated at King's College, New York, and ordained some time since for S. Peter's at Peeks Kill, is appointed to succeed Mr. Andrews1 with the former salary for the space of five years; after which time, one half will be withdrawn, and the congregation be in a condition, it is hoped, to increase their contribution to his support."2
The first services of the Church in Schenectady were held by the Rev. Thomas Barclay of Albany in 1710, and until the erection of St. George's, about 1762, were held in the Dutch Church. Of the town in those days the Rev. John Taylor writes: "It makes a singular appear- ance, being built in the old Dutch form-houses in general but one story, or a story and a half-and standing end- wise to the street." In this place John Doty spent a four years' active but troubled ministry. Every Sunday afternoon he catechised the children in open congrega- tion, in addition to which he conducted a class for "twenty poor negroes." In one year he baptized more than one hundred infants, "most of them brought in from the circumjacent country, in which there are many poor families to whom he had occasionally preached."
This admirable parochial work was disrupted by the War of the Revolution. In an historical sermon preach- ed in 1882 by the late Rev. Dr. Payne, he said of Mr. Doty:
1 The Rev. William Andrews was of Irish birth. He was recom- mended to Sir William Johnson for the mission at Schenectady by Colonel Croghan and Secretary Banyar, and was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1770. He afterwards removed to Virginia.
2 Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1774.
76 The History of St. Philip's Church
Not long had the new incumbent been proclaiming within these walls the gospel of peace, before the sounds of war were echoed from Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. The rupture between the colonies and the mother country was to try the souls of all, but of none more than the clergy of the English Church, who were sustained by the bounty of its So- ciety at home, and whose ordination vows would not allow them to disuse the liturgy, with the prayer for the king and royal family. Like many of his brethren, Mr Doty suffered between a sense of duty and the pressure of the times. He was arrested, and kept in ward for a while. On being released, he left for Canada; and divine service was suspended in the church during the remainder of the war.1
From various sources we can fill in the above outline. In his Annals of Albany Munsell states that St. George's library, the organ and a greater part of the interior were destroyed by a gang of Indians and lawless whites, and adds, "they even meditated the destruction of Mr. Doty's property; but they knew not the place of his abode, and, as none would inform them, he escaped their ire." Mr. Doty himself writes: "The Church had been on the decline for three years: two-thirds of the people only remaining, but those of decent deportment, and attached to the King So reduced were his people that he left in Schenectady only fifty-nine, exclusive of slaves among whom were sixteen communicants, and twelve catechumens."2
From the safe refuge of Montreal he writes on May 30th, 1778 to the S. P. G.,-
1 Pearson, History of the Schenectady Patent, p. 396.
2 Quoted in Fowler's MS. Biographies of the Clergy.
The Rectors of St. Peter's and St. Philip's 77
To avoid a long detail of the most il-liberal treat- ment he has received from his factious neighbors, he thinks it suffice to say, that after fifteen months inter- ruption of divine service, his people having suffered in various ways, and himself twice made prisoner, he found it absolutely necessary to retire with his family to Canada. To pay for which journey, and to dis- charge the debts necessarily incurred by him, through the deficiency of the peoples subscriptions, all the money he had, and could collect from the sale of his furniture was not sufficient; and his distress must have been very great had he not been appointed Chaplain to His Majesty's Royal Regiment of New York.1
Mr. Doty left Schenectady on October 23rd, 1777, and so great were the difficulties of travel, that it was nearly a month before he reached Montreal.2 To the foregoing must be added a more detailed statement of his exper- iences made under oath, a statement the more valuable because it is typical of the sufferings of many of the colonial clergy who adhered to the cause of the king.
At the close of the War of the Revolution the British Government was inundated with claims for compensa- tion for "losses and services" of the loyalists. Royal Commissioners were appointed to investigate and adjudi- cate upon the claims. For obvious reasons this could not be done within the confines of the United States, so the hearings took place in London and Nova Scotia. All claims had to be submitted in writing, and each claimant was required to appear personally before the Commissioners. These claims have been carefully pre-
1 Report of the S. P. G., 1779.
2 Stuart, The Church of England in Canada, p. 46.
78 The History of St. Philip's Church
served in the archives of the British Colonial Office, and they have been copied into forty-six folio manuscript volumes which constitute one of the greatest historical treasures of the Public Library of the city of New York.
These volumes contain a wealth of material for the student of the Revolutionary period as it affected both Church and Commonwealth. Therein are found the claims of the Rev. Charles Inglis, Rector of Trinity Church, of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, then Rector of Westchester, and afterwards first Bishop of the American Church, and many others. Two of the docu- ments are of absorbing interest to the parish of St. Philip's in the Highlands-the claims of the Rev. John Doty and Colonel Beverly Robinson, the first Rector and Warden of the united churches. The proceedings in Mr. Doty's case read as follows:
To the Honorable Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament for enquiries into the Losses and Services of the American Loyalists.
The Memorial of John Doty, Clerk, one of the Missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and late Rector of St. George's Church, in the town of Schenectady &c, Province of New York, North America.
Humbly Sheweth,
That your Memorialist from the beginning of the late Troubles in America, adhered stedfastly to his Allegiance using his utmost endeavors to preserve the people committed to his care unshaken in their loy- alty; and especially from the Autumn of 1777-to the Autumn of 1781-faithfully discharged the duty of a Chaplain in one of the Provincial Corps in Canada. That besides the personal ill-treatment
The Rectors of St. Peter's and St. Philip's 79
he received from his deluded Countrymen, your Memorialist compelled to retire within the British Lines was deprived (for the most part) of his Living which he estimates at £80 Sterling per annum, to which your Memorialist adds the loss of 325 Acres of Land, an estate in fee simple situate lying and being on the South side of the Mohawk river, in the county of Tryon, and in the Township of Belvidere, which land, together with part of his moveable estate left at Schenectady, he values at £250 Sterling.
That in point of Living £140 New York Currency the Par of £80 Sterling would go as far at Schenectady as £140 will extend here (London); for which reason your Memorialist finds it extremely difficult to support himself and his Wife (the companion of his Misfortunes) in the expensive Metropolis, where with much less than the sum last mentioned he has been obliged to remain ever since his arrival on the British shore.
Your Memorialist therefore prays that his case may be taken into your Consideration in order that your Memorialist may continue to receive the small Annuity allowed to him since the Fifth day of January last, or such Aid or Relief which his Losses and Services may be found to deserve.
JOHN DOTY.
No date is attached to this Memorial, but it was pro- bably presented late in 1783, and in the February follow- ing Mr. Doty appeared personally in support of his claim. The official record is as follows:
Feby 6th, 1784.
Evidence on the Foregoing Memorial of the Rev. John Doty.
Claimant sworn
Says he is a native of Albany in the Province of
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New York, but was brought up from his Infancy in the City of New York.
Says at the commencement of the Troubles he was rector of S. George's Church in Schenectady-The first Step he took at that time was to warn the People Privately and used every means in his power to con- firm them in their Allegiance-He likewise as far as he thought right exhorted them from the Pulpit to the same Effect-This conduct soon drew upon him the Suspicion and Enmity of all who were of the opposite Faction-They did not molest him personally until after the Declaration of Independence at which time his Church was shut up-He was warned not to keep it open by Mr Wayne one of the Congress lest he should be troubled for it-Soon after this he was taken up and carried before the Committee of the Town and two young men swore they considered him as a person plotting with the Negroes against their State, and to destroy the Town:
Claimant denied his being concerned in any Plott, but openly declared his Allegiance to the King. He was in consequence of this threatened to be sent to prison. He was acquitted of the Charge of Plotting to destroy the town and was discharged.
Not many weeks after he was taken up again by two armed men as being a Tory, and sent off in a Wagon to Albany; when he arrived at Albany he was bailed by a relation who was on the Rebel side. The next day he, with the others who were carried down with him, were brought before the Committee where an Oath of Neutrality was tendered to them severally- He believes the others took the Oath but he refused to take any-He was however permitted to return home through the Interference of his Friends-He accord- ingly went back and staid at home till the affair of General Burgoyne, when from his Miscarriage des- pairing of relief he by means of his friends at Albany
The Rectors of St. Peter's and St. Philip's 81
obtained permission from General Gates to go unto Canada-The General offered him anything in his Gift as far as £200 a year-Claimant said he would consider of it, but begged he would let his Secretary make out his Pass, and immediately that he got it he departed unto Canada. He was appointed Chaplain to the first Battalion of Sir John Johnson's Regiment in which situation he continued till he arrived in England in the Autumn of 1781-He had leave to come home for his Health-and he had business with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and he was permitted to act by Deputy1 and he received the half of the Pay-the Regiment is now reduced, and his half pay is assigned over to a Gentleman in Montreal of whom he was obliged to take up Mon- ey, but in about a year he shall be able to clear it off, and have his half pay clear-It was £60 a year.
He was appointed a Missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1773-and has hitherto received £40 a year, but he has lately had a differ- ent Mission given to him at Sorenne2 which will pro- duce him £50 a year. He receives an allowance of £40 a year from the Treasury.
The record further states that Mr. Doty produced his commission as military chaplain signed by Sir Guy Carleton, and also the deed of the land for which he paid £80. He valued the land at 13s .- 6d. per acre. He further testifies that
He lost by leaving behind him a Chamber Organ and his Library-He put the Organ in the Church for Security, and he values the Library and the Organ at £30-and he meant to value his land at £220, and
1 As Chaplain.
2 Sorel.
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that the income of S. George's was secured to him by a Bond from the Church Wardens.1
On his arrival in Canada he was at once appointed Chaplain to His Majesty's Royal Regiment of New York, the sixtieth, and in addition to his military duties he ministered devotedly to such of the Mohawk Indians as were settled in Canada, many of whom had joined the royal army. Six miles from Montreal the Mohawks in 1778 "built a few temporary huts for their families and a log house for the sole purpose of a Church and a Council Room." There Mr. Doty ministered 'to the whole assembled village, who behaved with apparent seriousness and devotion." The record is still extant of how he admonished the Red Men to be faithful to their baptismal vows, and of how the Chief replied "that they would never forget their baptismal vows, nor the religion they had been educated in, and that it revived their hearts to find once more a Christian Minis- ter among them, and to meet together, as formerly, for the worship of Almighty God."2 In June, 1778, he accompanied his regiment to Quebec, and a little later General Haldimand informed Sir John Johnson that a memorial had been presented by the inhabitants of Montreal requesting the appointment of the Rev. John Doty to the management of a public school.3 The appointment was not made, and he sailed for England, accompanied by his wife, on October 23rd, 1781, on the
1 American Loyalists, Audit Office Manuscripts, New York, Book 1, Claimants, Lennox Library, Vol. XLI, p 45-51.
2 Two Hundred Years of the S. P. G., 1901, Vol. I, p. 139.
3 Canadian Archives, Haldimand Collection, Letters to Officers of the King's Royal Regiment of N. Y., Series B, Vol. 138, page 125.
The Rectors of St. Peter's and St. Philip's 83
Integrity with "a convoy of 60 sail," being allowed to retain his chaplaincy during his absence.
In January, 1783, during a visit to England, Mr. Doty drew up a valuable statement on "The present state of the Church in the Province of Canada," in which he declares "The evening service of the Church of England is not performed: The weekly prayer days, Saints' Days are totally neglected: and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered not above three or four times a year at Montreal, not so often at Quebec and not at all at Trois Rivieres."1 Uncompromising Tory as he was, he adds that the Society "will not have the rank weeds of Republicanism and Independence to root out before they can sow the pure seed of the gospel, as was too much the case heretofore, in the Colonies, but on the contrary they will find a people (like the good ground) in a great measure prepared and made ready to their hand. The Protestants to a man are loyal subjects, and in general members of the Church of England."2
For this promising field John Doty "freely offered his services," and it was decided to make a "trial" by appointing him to establish a mission at Sorel. Sorel was then "the key of Canada," fifteen leagues below Montreal. Besides the garrison, which was "middling large," there were seventy Protestant English families. He arrived at Sorel on July 1st, 1784, and immediately applied to the Governor for a residence, provisions and a lot of land, and, until such time as a residence was pro- vided, he was quartered in barracks. The first service was held on July 4th, 1784, and was attended by "Dis-
1 Two Hundred Years of the S. P. G., 1901, Vol. I, p. 140-41.
2 Two Hundred Years of the S. P. G., 1901, Vol. I, p. 141.
84 The History of St. Philip's Church
senters, Lutherans and Churchmen." After four weeks, permission to use the Roman Church was withdrawn, and he applied to Major Johnson for the use of a govern- ment building. In 1785 he purchased "one of the Best houses in Sorel for fifteen guineas, and fitted it for a Church so as to accommodate above one hundred and twenty persons." The gift of a bell "encouraged them to add a steeple to their church." "The first Church in which he ministered," writes Canon Anderson, "was of wood, and it was originally a marine store, fitted up for divine service in something of church-like form, with belfry and bell."1 This was replaced by the aforemen- tioned building opened on Christmas Day, 1785, when "thirty-two persons received the Communion." John Doty writes in his diary: "Completed the first Protestant Church built in Canada, and opened it for Divine Service."
The following summer he visited Albany and was called to the rectorship of St. Peter's Church, which he declined in the interests of his work at Sorel. His stipend of £50 was paid by the S. P. G. and in 1786 the Government added an annual allowance of £100, to which were added grants of land, which in the course of time became quite valuable. From Sorel he reached out in his missionary labor to Montreal, where he ministered to a congregation of Germans, and to St. Armand, where 'he had a serious and crowded audience, and baptized six infants and one adult."
In 1793 he visited New York, where he is said to have received a call to St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, as witness
1 Centennial Sermon in the Church at Sorel by the Rev. Canon Anderson.
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this paragraph in the S. P. G. report for 1797: "It is with concern that the Society has received information that they are deprived of the useful service of this worthy missionary, Mr. John Doty, by his removal to his native country to take charge of S. Ann's Church at Brooklyn in Long Island, in the Province of New York."
There is, however, no mention of this fact in the records of St. Ann's, and in September of the same year we find Mr. Doty preaching before H. R. H. Prince Edward at Sorel at a notable Masonic service.
In 1803 he resigned as a missionary of the Venerable Society, and removed to Three Rivers, where, on July 28th, 1819, he married Rachel Jeffery. He died on the 23rd of November, 1841, at the great age of ninety-six years, and was buried in the old cemetery where a simple stone bears this inscription :
Sacred to the Memory of the Reverend John Doty who departed this life on the 23rd of November, 1841. Aged 96 years.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
Mrs. Doty died in Montreal, March 1st, 1860. Writing in 1893 the Rector of the parish says: "Mr. and Mrs. Doty are still remembered by old residents of Three Rivers, who speak of them as devout and hon- orable gentle-folks, always bearing the dignified man- ners and the courtly grace of a bygone age."1
Nearly two years elapsed before St. Peter's and St.
1 The Church of England in Canada, 1759-1793, Rev. H. C. Stuart, p. 109.
86 The History of St. Philip's Church
Philip's secured a successor to Mr. Doty. At a meeting of the Vestry on September 18th, 1775, "it was unani- mously agreed to set on foot a subscription for the sup- port of Mr. Bennett Page during his preaching in S. Peter's Church, Peeks Kill." In all probability this was "Bernard Page," who was licensed by the Bishop of London to officiate in Wyoming parish, Pennsylvania, in 1772, from whence he removed to the Province of New York.1 A curious reflection upon him occurs in an advertisement of a lottery for a Church in Brooklyn:
New York, March 31st, 1774. Many Persons having been misled by an opinion, that the Church proposed to be erected by means of a lottery, at Brooklyn, on Long Island, is to be under the minis- try of the Rev. Bernard Page, the public is hereby assured to the contrary, and that it will be a truly Orthodox Church, strictly conformable to the doc- trine and discipline of the constitutional Church of England, as by law established, and under the Rec- tor and Vestry of Trinity Church, in this City.2
How long Mr Page ministered in the united churches it is impossible to tell. The meeting at which he was engaged as minister "adjourned until further notice," and no meeting is recorded for the next fifteen years. During those years the Colony of New York threw off all allegiance to the British Crown, becoming one of the thirteen United States and the "Church as by Law established" ceased to exist therein. Families were divided into hostile political camps, and the Highlands were ravaged by the armies. Two-thirds of what is now
1 Bolton's History of Westchester County, 1881, I, p. 132.
2 Rivington's New York Gazette, Thursday, March 31st, 1774.
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Putnam County, was sequestered from the ownership of Beverly Robinson and of his brother-in-law, Roger Morris. The people of the parish were scattered; the services were either suspended or held irregularly; and for several years there were no meetings of the Vestry and no settled minister.
The record takes up the broken thread with the elec- tion of Wardens and Vestrymen on Easter Monday, April 5th, 1790, but no steps towards obtaining a clergy- man were taken till the following year when it was "Agreed that a subscription paper be sett on foot for the purpose of raising a sallary for a minister to officiate in the united churches of S. Peter's and S. Philip's." Richard Arnold and Joshua Nelson were appointed to solicit subscriptions at Philipstown, and Jarvis Dusen- bury and Caleb Morgan were appointed to "furnish the said subscription role on the part of St. Peters." It was further agreed that "the Wardens and Vestrymen begin both the Subscription papers now mentioned, but it is hereby understood that the duplicate signing is deemed to give equal encouragement to both, and that the pay- ment of one will discharge the subscriber."
In November, 1791, the Vestry "did then agree to pay the sum of Twenty pounds for the suport of David Lamson1 to services in S. Peter's Church at Peekskill and S. Philip's Chappel in the Highlands until the first of April next, and it is further agreed that Joshua Nelson and Silvanus Haight shall furnish him with the necessarys agreeable to a person of his station out of the above Twenty pounds."
1 Probably "Lampson."
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Apparently David Lamson's engagement was not renewed, for on the 7th day of August, 1792, the Vestry
did then agree with the Rev. Andrew Fowler to officiate as Rector of the Church and Chapple for one year, and they do promise to pay him for his ser- vice the sum of seventy pounds current money of New York, and have likewise agreed with John Bash- ford for the house which he now lives in until the first day of May next, and to give him the sum of five pounds for the same, and they do further agree to put Mr. Fowler on the Glebe farm the first day of May next.
Early in the following year the Vestry resolved that "the Rev. Mr. Fowler shall be inducted according to the mode of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this state now in use, with the Rectory of S. Peter's Church on the Manor of Cortlandt, and S. Philip's Chapel in Philips- town now in communion together and that the Induction into S. Peter's Church shall be made on Monday the 6th of instant January, and the Induction into S. Philip's Chapel when convenience will permit."
The next year Mr. Fowler was re-engaged for another annual term at a salary of eighty pounds, the Vestry further agreeing to repair the house and build a barn. It was also arranged "that both parties do agree to give each party three months warning previous to leaving or dismissing." A little later a minute records a complaint of the Rector "that the church at Peekskill had neglected to discharge their part of the first half year's salary."
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